One Equity Partners (OEP) completes takeover of Constantia Packaging AG

Sulipo Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, Vienna, an acquisition company controlled by One Equity Partners advised funds, completed the acquisition of 91 percent of Constantia Packaging AG today.

The share purchase agreements will be processed in the coming days. A prerequisite of the acquisition was approval from the European Commission in terms of cartel law. This has now been granted, which means that the last remaining condition for the completion of the sale has been met. The agreement that has been reached involves the seller, Constantia Packaging B.V., retaining an indirect stake of 25 percent in the Constantia Packaging Group.

Today Sulipo informed the Executive Board of the Constantia Packaging Group, as per § 1 para 1 of the Austrian Squeeze-out Act (Gesellschafter-Ausschlussgesetz), that the squeeze-out process announced on 20 January 2010 in the Sulipo offer document will now be put into effect. This process involves the shares held by the minority shareholders being transferred to Sulipo in return for appropriate cash compensation.

The shareholders of Constantia Packaging AG will decide on this motion at the company’s 16th AGM, due to take place on 24 August 2010. The amount of cash compensation per share to be paid will be made public in a separate announcement after it has been determined in accordance with the law.

“Our goal is to sustainably support Duropack, Constantia Flexibles and AMAG – three fundamentally sound, independent Austrian companies – in realising their international growth potential. In doing so, we are consciously opting to maintain the Group’s existing values: decentralisation, a focus on premium and core markets, and growth through the integration of highly targeted acquisitions,” said Christopher von Hugo, Managing Director of OEP and Chairman of OEP Europe.

OEP is financing the takeover of the majority stake from Constantia Packaging B.V. entirely with equity capital.